Do You Miss Grand Rapids’ Red Hot Inn’s Chili Dogs? They’re Back!

It was over 100 years ago when the Koukios family landed in Grand Rapids from Greece, and not long after the iconic Red Lion restaurant was born on Grand Rapids west side.

For many years the Red Lion flourished as a west side staple. But, flash forward to 1971 Gus Koukios wanted to leave the families' Red Lion and open his own place. So he opened his up his Red Hot Inn on Plainfield.

He did have that killer recipe he invented for chili and created the famous chili dog, probably the first in Grand Rapids. And that 'secret sauce' brought fans from all over West Michigan.

Later on he built a new location on Leonard and the Beltline in 1984, and it was the place to go for a great breakfast, lunch, dinner, and of course, those first of a kind in Grand Rapids, chili dogs.

However, after a long and very successful run the family decided to sell the location to Priority Health who wanted to expand their East Beltline location. So, it was the end of an iconic chili dog era of Grand Rapids.

But, wait a minute. Jim Koukios, after retiring, yeah right, said wait a minute, let's get this started again. So together with his sons, Connor and Peter, decided to resurrect the iconic Red Hot chili dog but this time not in a brick and mortar location — a food truck!

So late last year, 2022, the Red Hot Food Truck was born, and the fun thing is they pop up anywhere from downtown to area events.

Even snow won't keep them away from serving our favorite Red Hot chili dog!

Thanks for keep our "dogs" alive Koukios family!